Friday, June 18, 2010

On Thursday, Aaron Murray chatted with reporters for about 20 minutes, discussing his approach to his new role as Georgia's starting quarterback. Among other things, he mentioned he had spent some time chatting with former Bulldogs QB David Greene this offseason -- and planned to talk to Greene a lot more about how to approach life as a starter when you're a redshirt freshman.

As fate would have it, this morning I chatted with David Greene, and I asked him many of the same questions Murray was asked yesterday.

While Murray says he hopes to learn a lot more from Greene in the coming months, comparing what the two had to say leads me to believe he's already taken some very good notes.

Here are some highlights:

David Greene on how a freshman QB should approach his role…“Both of our situations are pretty similar in the fact that we were playing as redshirt freshmen, and the good situation that he’s in that I also had was that he’s going to have an experienced offensive line in front of him. That’s such a big advantage to have that, and I’d rather have an experience offensive line with a freshman quarterback than I would an inexperienced line with a veteran quarterback. So the key really for Aaron is just like what Coach Richt told me when I was a freshman: ‘You’ve got good players around you, you’re just kind of steering the ship and distributing the ball to guys who are open. You don’t have to do too much, just take what they give you. Just take care of the football, manage the game and go from there.’ Sometimes that’s harder said that done because we’re all competitive, we want to make plays, but at the end of the day, he does have a pretty good supporting cast around him on that offense.”

Aaron Murray on his approach to the job…"It’s pretty much being smart with the football. What Coach Richt always says is respect the football. That’s pretty much the main goal going into this year is not to be a superstar or make spectacular plays. It’s to respect the football, make plays, make first downs, just utilize the great weapons I have around me. Great plays are going to happen just from ordinary plays because of the athletes we have around us. You can give a 10-yard curl to A.J. Green and he’s going to turn it into a 40 or 50-yard play. Me respecting the ball and making the right decisions and letting those guys do the dirty work – I’ve just got to be smart.”

David Greene on the progression of a young quarterback...“I don’t think Coach Richt or anybody wants to hold him back from going out there and being the type of player he is, but at the same time, you’ve got to play smart. You want him to think things through, where if you’re in the red zone, you don’t want him forcing a ball and throwing an interception. You’ve just got to play smart, and as a redshirt freshman, you don’t exactly know the speed of the game yet, and you really are learning on the fly. It’s going to be no different than anybody else. There will be bumps in the road, you’re going to go through a little bit of growing pains. But at the same time, the thing I like about Aaron is he’s a kid that’s tough, he’s a kid that wants to be great. He’ll call me up and ask about studying film. He asks a lot of questions because he wants to be good. I’m excited about him. He’s definitely accepted the challenge and is working hard.”

Aaron Murray on how he thinks he will progress…"Coach Bobo always jokes with me that you’re going to be what Matthew Stafford was in 2007 when we won the Sugar Bowl. You’re going to have to show me what you can do and gradually earn more trust. What I’m going to have to do is continue to learn the defense and become a better quarterback."David Greene on playing in front of a big crowd, as opposed to practice or G-Day...“It’s definitely different going out there and practicing and scrimmaging vs. playing in a game. But most people probably won’t remember back in 2002, we had the worst spring game probably in the history of spring games. I played terrible, the team played terrible, and that was probably one of the greatest years we had. We went 13-1. A lot of times, you can’t tell what’s going to take place from the G-Day game. That’s really the first time Aaron got introduced to Georgia when everyone was wondering how this kid’s going to be. You can’t tell that off of one performance. A lot of times in those spring games, coaches are pretty vanilla because it’s on TV, so I wouldn’t put too much stock in that. But also, when it comes to game time, he’s going to have to be ready to go because it’s full tilt.”

Aaron Murray on his expectations for what game conditions will be like…“I’ve pretty much envisioned by now all the games. I’ve gone through every team and pretty much pictured the stadiums in my mind going to bed at night – just thinking about my goals for every game. I’ve definitely envisioned that first game, but it’s not going to be anything compared to when we actually get out there in front of 90,000 fans. I’m definitely excited about that.”

David Greene on handling the responsibilities of the job as a freshman...“Sometimes being young and naïve is a plus. When I was a redshirt freshman, what Coach Richt taught me – I thought I knew everything. By the time I was a senior, I realized I didn’t really know anything, I just thought I knew everything. Sometimes being naïve and having a young guy on the field is good because he doesn’t know any better. It seemed like every year, Coach Richt gave me more and more responsibility. Later in my career there were a lot more checks at the line of scrimmage, but my first year, it was Football 101. I was on a need-to-know basis. If this guy comes, you throw hot. Don’t ask why, just do it. That’s the way we did it.”

Aaron Murray on his expectations of his role…"I’ve never played a game before, so I can’t just go out there and he’s going to have me throw 40 or 50 passes a game. (Bobo) is going to slowly build me up in the offense. The better I do, the more I show him I’m capable of completing certain plays, the more he’s going to trust me in the offense.”

David Greene on how a young QB earns a leadership role...“When you come in as a freshman and you haven’t really played and you’re surrounded by a bunch of guys that have played, you have to lead by example. You can’t come in there and talk in front of those guys like they don’t know what they’re doing. You have to go out there and earn their respect. That’s the only way you’re going to get it is to go out and work hard every day. Hopefully your play on the field will earn their respect. That’s the only way you can do it.”Aaron Murray on how he's trying to earn respect…“It’s not going to be given to me right away and I’m not going to earn it in a week or two from just working hard. It’s going to take some time because we have a very senior group – a bunch of seniors who are good leaders on this team. I just need to be me, not be someone I’m not. I’ve got to find my way of being a leader on this team, my way to motivate people and figure out ways to push them and make them do stuff they never knew they could do. That’s not going to come in a week or two. It’s going to take some time to better understand the guys and what they can do and motivate them and hopefully by this summer hopefully I’ll make some strides in that category.”

* I also want to remind fans that David Greene will be part of a Bulldogs charity auction in Buckhead tomorrow night. You can find details on the event HERE and I'll post a bit more on that this afternoon.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Seth Emerson has been covering the SEC and Georgia (on and off) since 2002. He worked at the Albany Herald from 2002-05, then spent five years at The State in Columbia, S.C., covering South Carolina. He returned to Athens in August of 2010, only to find that David Pollack and David Greene were no longer playing for the Bulldogs. Adjustments were made. Emerson is originally from Silver Spring, Md., and graduated from Maryland in 1998 with a degree in journalism and a minor in getting lost on the way to practically everywhere. Then he spent four years at The Washington Post, covering small colleges, a couple NCAA basketball tournaments, and on one glorious day, was yelled at by Tony Kornheiser. It was probably at The Post that he also learned to write in the third person.These days he lives in Athens with his beloved and somewhat wimpy dog, Archie. Together they fight crime at night in northeast Georgia, except on nights there is no crime, in which case they sit at home, sip on white wine and watch reruns of "Mad Men."